1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for putting on and removing socks and, more specifically, to device to be used by people unable to lean over or bend to the side to put on and remove socks.
2. Description of Related Art
A wide variety of devices have been devised for assisting obese, arthritic, and other persons who have trouble leaning forward or bending to the side to put on and remove socks. These devices commonly include a sock caddy, slide member, trough, or shell to hold a sock open and ready to position on a foot.
Person with limited flexibility often find it difficult to use flexible lines, cords, straps, fabric tapes, or other pliant materials to guide a sock caddy. Additionally, a sock caddy suspended from a flexible line or strap is not useful to a person in a reclined position. The present invention includes elongate rigid handles that solve these problems and aid in taking off socks and putting on shoes.
The present inventor is aware that devices with a sock caddy mounted in a fixed position to one end of a rigid handle require the user to lean and bend more than devices with the caddy pivotally mounted to rigid handles. Also, persons with limited flexibility often have weak grips or unsure manual dexterity making a device with two handles preferable to a device with one handle.
Finally, maintaining a sock on the caddy while it is drawn over the foot and up the leg is a difficulty the present invention overcomes.
A discussion of the present art of which the present inventor is aware, and its differences and distinctions from the present invention, is provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 310,908, issued Oct. 2, 1990 to Anthony Santore titled, “Combined Shoehorn and Hosiery Donning Aid,” shows a one piece device including an elongate handle and a scoop-like sock caddy portion at one end. It would appear from the drawings that the axis of the handle and the caddy are identical. No hinge, pivot, shoehorn, or implement to remove socks is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 321,427, issued Nov. 12, 1991 to Ford Barrick titled, “Tool for Donning and Removal of Hosiery,” shows a one-piece device with a grip projecting at one end from a cylindrical section that, in turn, opens into an elongate semi-cylindrical section which ends in a caddy portion with raised, parallel sidewalls. No hinge, pivot, shoehorn, or implement to remove socks is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,737, issued to Sampson D. Sanger titled, “Manually Operable Personal Convenience Implement,” describes a device having two arms pivotally secured to each other. Sanger describes the “wedge” on one arm as a sock caddy. The axis of the caddy is fixed parallel to the axis of the arm and no hinge or pivot is described at the wedge end of the arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,209, issued Mar. 21, 1967 to John Clauss titled, “Device for Facilitating the Putting on of Socks,” describes a device using a flexibles trap to maneuver a scoop-like caddy. No hinge, pivot, shoehorn, or implement to remove socks is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,856, issued Sep. 17, 1968 to Abe Berlin titled, “Hosiery-Donning Device,” describes a device with a looped strap to maneuver a tube-like caddy. No rigid. handle, means to secure a sock on the caddy, shoehorn, or implement to remove socks is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,083, issued Apr. 7, 1981 to Nils O.G. Åslin titled, “Pull-on Device for Socks,” describes a device with looped cords to maneuver a sock caddy that includes a soft portion, a stiff central sole portion, and an elongate plate member. No rigid handle, shoehorn, or implement to remove socks is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,909, issued Mar. 24, 1987 to Gregory Banting titled, “Manually Operable Device for Applying Socks,” describes a device that uses a “thread” to maneuver a piece of flexible sheet material used as a sock caddy. No rigid handle, means to secure a sock on the caddy, shoehorn, or implement to remove socks is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,252, issued Dec. 10, 1974 to Giuseppe M. Scianimanico titled, “Orthopedic Device,” describes a device with two parallel rod handles that extend from opposite parallel to that of the caddy. Scianimanico does not describe pivotally attached handles, a shoehorn, or an implement to remove socks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,061, issued to Luigi Marchetti and Sergio Zaglio titled, “Socks or Socks Wear-Helping Utensil,” describes a device with a single goose-neck handle on one end of an elongate rod and a semi-cylindrical caddy that is pivotally attached to the opposite end of the rod. Marchetti et al., does not describe dual handles, or a shoehorn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,533, issued to Maurice Black titled, “Footwear Dressing Aid,” describes a device with a coupling of flexible material pivotally joining the end of a single elongate rod to a sock caddy. Black does not describe dual handles.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.